@FaheemMitha I did, and i loved it

@JesusCepeda Oh. Ok.

I don't see how this one can be on topic.

Random talking point: The awfulness of Australian Internet.

I don't pay much attention, but even I've heard that Telstra doesn't have a great reputation.

@cas Comments? ^^

@derobert If you have a couple of minutes, would you care to comment on this? We talked about the USB cable yesterday. The local APC rep here is quoting the cable for Rs 1125 (including delivery). But this is also available online for Rs 300 (including delivery). See estorewale.com/USB-to-RJ50-Cable. The question is - how much of an issue is quality here? The money isn't a big issue, but Rs 1125 seems quite a lot for a bit of wire.

If the quality is likely the same, I see no reason not to go with a cheaper option.

pastebin.com/sQF3C7gd

@FaheemMitha if you are only using that for UPS monitoring (if i remember your initial conversation) the transfer speeds are likely quite low and quality for the cable isn't going to be an issue. I'd go with the cheaper cable.

and if you want to see exorbitant fees for wires, check out monster hdmi cables... they sell on variant of 4ft hdmi cable for USD$80....

even ethernet is inflated if you buy the cables pre-made when you compare them to what a 1000' spool of cat6 and a box of RJ45 connectors cost (and a crimping tool if you don't have one already)

@casey Yes, just UPS monitoring. Thanks.

@casey Yes, I've heard of those.

@casey So one can make one's own ethernet cables?

@FaheemMitha I've made all my own cables since the mid 90's

@casey Wow.

What about these wacky APC UPS cables?

@FaheemMitha nah, its not wow, crimping ethernet is easy

@casey If you say so. Why doesn't everyone do it then?

@FaheemMitha because spending $100-$200 for a spool of cable, $40 for a crimping tool and few more dollars on a rj45 connectors and perhaps a cable stripper seems like a lot of money to some people. Then you need to know how to wire the cables.

@casey I see. But economical in the long run, presumably. Do you do a lot of DIY then?

for slow ethernet you can just make sure you use the same wire colors in the same order on both ends of the cable and it works. For fast and gigabit ethernet you need to make sure you wire it right e.g. T568B standard wiring

@casey Not completely sure what that means (T568B), but Ok.

Thanks for the advice. Time to sleep now.

T568B is orange/white orange green/white blue blue/white green brown/white brown on pins 1-8

it basically just makes sure you are taking advantage of the twists in the wire pairs in a way that makes sense for what is on each pin

(color color/white air twisted together within the cable)

@FaheemMitha Yeah, I thought everyone did...

Actually, premade cable prices have come down a lot. If you get them from reasonable places, not Worst Buy.

@FaheemMitha They use a different connector than Ethernet (10 pins instead of 8). So unfortunately the readily available Ethernet crimping equipment won't work on it.

@casey Less than that, start with a 250 or 500ft spool, not 1000ft.

@derobert yea, thats good advice

1000' when just for personal use lasts a very, very long time

I think I've my current spool for around a decade

Yeah. Though for personal use, I'm on my 3rd, I believe. But I'm weird :-P

Actually, if you just want patch cables, I'd say just order them from Monoprice now.

monoprice.com/Category?c_id=105&cp_id=10208

my recent usecase has been wiring along the length of my house from my basement wiring jungle to various places in my house

Yeah. You want to make your own cables for that. Fishing a cable with ends on it is a royal PITA.

my house is a royal PITA. wiring is through holes someone drilled through the floor to pass coax through so I re-appropriated those to pass ethernet through and those come out into the basement on top of the main heating and return ducts so access is difficult

so its very ugly wiring, no proper rj45 wall jacks, no patch panel

@casey Hah! I'm single, so run wiring through my house the easy way: I stick cable tie mounting pads to the walls & ceiling...

No drilling required. Just take it up the stairs.

@derobert nice :) thats how I did it at my last place. This place is a single floor with a full basement (unfinished) so its pretty convenient to run the cables down there, and my wife tolerates that

all the holes were pre-drilled by some past owner, I'm just re-appropriating them

@casey Ah, three story townhouse here.

Before I moved out of my parents place, had to run cables like that—through attics, basement, walls, etc. because they didn't want them visible. Much more of a PITA.

an apartment I lived in with some friends in the early 00's was top floor and we ran cable through the ceiling in the attic.

doing that we leared the attic was wide open and you could access all the top floor apartments if you really wanted

@casey what great construction!

they all had attic access doors/hatches?

yea. thankfully none of our neighbors were aware of that "feature".

@derobert yea, in a hallway closet the had a small hatch. it even had the dropdown stairs for easy access!

Yeah. They really ought to have at least installed a latch on the access hatch

So you could only open it from inside the unit.

@casey Joy! Did people store stuff up there?

@derobert nah, it was empty except for our ethernet cables :)

Hah, they must have never found the hatch.

@derobert So getting someone to make this for me would not be an option then?

@FaheemMitha Not unless they have those much rarer connectors. I'd go with the cheap cable you found.

@derobert Ok, I'll do that. Like casey, do you think they will work?

Yeah. It's a simple enough thing to make, given the right tools.

I imagine APC used the 10P10C plug instead of the common 8P8C one so that you couldn't accidentally plug in an Ethernet cable.

@FaheemMitha I guess you could also ask around locally to see if anyone has a pile of extra ones...

@derobert I guess I could...

@derobert That's very thoughtful of them. Couldn't they have used a USB to USB cable instead?

@FaheemMitha Yeah. A standard A/B cable would have been nice. No idea why they didn't.

It does sound the 1125 price is a bit of a ripoff.

@derobert What is A/B?

@FaheemMitha USB A is the side that goes in the PC, USB B is the square-ish connector that goes in a device. The old, original, USB connectors.

@derobert I see. USB 2?

@FaheemMitha Started with USB1. Works with USB2 as well. Though the UPS is only USB1.

USB 3 looks different for a B:

@derobert Oh, is it? Weird. You have similar UPSs where you are, then? These Back UPS 1400 thingys?

@FaheemMitha yes, APC sells similar UPSes worldwide

@derobert Ah.

I have a bunch of those cables from BackUPS RS/XS 1500s

And probably some other APC UPSes. Don't recall if the SmartUPSes use those, or if they use USB B connectors.

@derobert I see you popped in the Frying Pan today.

yep

@derobert If you had a handy teleportation device, you could send them across. Bummer.

Where's Scotty when you need him?

Did you check out the new and probably lame SW movie?

yeah, I'd send you one (we have a pile of extras at work, I have a few at home...) but I suspect mailing it to India would cost a pretty penny, and/or take 4 months.

@FaheemMitha Not yet.

No spoilers, please!

@derobert Oh, mailing something like that to India makes no sense. But I think I said that already.

@derobert I don't know anything about it. Just asking.

I was asleep. Looks like the FP has been chatty.

Coming up to 3 am here.

hah, I'm about to head home...

16:21 here

Do you usually stay off the computer at home?

Not really. Though a lot of times I'm doing other things and ignore chat.SE entirely.

@derobert Which sounds sensible. Some people spend a surprising amount of time on it.

Sometime I feel like saying - I'm in India. What's your excuse?

Have a good evening. Thanks for the tips re the cable.

@FaheemMitha I'm on another planet good enough?

;-)

@Fabby Which planet is that? :-)

This one...

@Fabby Ah yes, I remember your avatar. Though you've changed it.

@FaheemMitha Yes, I'm now an alien disguised as a French statue!!! ;-)

@Fabby That's a really good disguise! Congratulations.

:D :D :D

@Fabby Are you active in other chat rooms?

AU (mostly actually, I only drop by here to watch the notification bar and see if there are any interesting questions that I can solve...)

@Fabby Well, it's not very active here, certainly.

I expect AU is more active.

It is! Much so!

hey

what can we do if our question gets marked as a duplicate or something like that; but upon revision, our question is much clearer or just better for whatever reason?

@tjt263 edit the duplicate question to incorporate yours...

It'll be reviewed and if deemed worthy, put on the site...

Or just leave it as it is!

People googling for questions will drop on yours and be passed onto the other one that has the answer...

(that's one of the reasons the duplicate process exists in that form)

its happened to me a few times where it didnt really seem prudent to do that. for instance in some cases it might make a complicated mess or the questions might not be asking the exact same thing and so on

it just feels like a shame i guess

to have your post removed when it could still benefit peeps

particularly when the current alternative is sub-par

know what i mean?

@tjt263 You could ask the mods to have the other question remarked as a dupe of yours.

is that something they would do?

@tjt263 If it's really, really good, yes... Which are the two questions?

@tjt263 Your question will not be removed...

It will stay as a link to the answer of the other question!

@tjt263 Depends on the circumstances. But yes.

And like Fabby said, a closed question will not be removed provided it meets certain criteria. I think it needs upvotes and/or its answers need upvotes.

well i duno about really really good, i mean.. i might ask a very simple clear direct question and that post ends up being a pointer to some long winded unclear question and set of answers of which one or two might be somewhat related

you can check my most recent question for an example

id provide the link for you but im on my smartphone atm

it may not be a perfect example

but should help illustrate my point

brb